Kevin Zeese
 / Voters for Peace – 2010-11-25 01:17:55

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1312/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5244

(November 24, 2010) — The Afghanistan War is currently costing the United States $8 billion in borrowed dollars every month. The Obama administration is now talking about a four-year exit plan, for what is already America’s longest war. Four years! That is as long as the Civil War. That is longer than World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

US military occupation forces in the Afghanistan theater suffered 140 combat casualties during the week ending November 16. Civilian casualties are on the rise as are civilians fleeing their homes.

If the cost remains constant, and that is unlikely as wars tend to demand more resources, the US will spend $400 billion on the Afghanistan War over the next four years.

Can the US afford this? What is the war accomplishing? It is not preventing al-Qaeda attacks, since they have virtually left the country. Is the US merely fighting for its reputation as the world’s top warrior nation? Continued fighting in Afghanistan is creating more enemies for the United States, every day.

The media is not covering the Afghanistan War even as the US is in the midst of a critical battle in Kandahar. The war has become invisible and despite the US economic collapse to which war spending is a major contributor, it was not discussed in the mid-term elections by either party.

Indications are the Kandahar campaign is not going well. Casualties of American soldiers and NATO allies are increasing. Afghanis are being pushed out of their homes and farmers away from their crops.

Anger at the United States is increasing to such an extent that Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Sunday for American troops to scale back their military operations and stop the night raids on people’s homes. Karzai would not be in power without the US military presence. He is in many respects our president. Yet, Karzai is in open conflict with General David Petraeus who says Karzai is ensuring defeat and making Petraeus’ position “untenable.” 



Finally, regarding that other war on which the media reports so little — Iraq — the one on which the president said we should “turn the page,” it was reported that a special envoy from President Barack Obama raised the possibility in a secret meeting with senior Iraqi military and civilian officials that his administration would leave more than 15,000 combat troops in Iraq after the 2011 deadline for US withdrawal. The troops would have to be re-labeled as working for the State Department’s security force to be consistent with the president’s pledge to remove all troops by 2011.

President Obama and your elected officials in Congress need to be told the American people are watching and want these wars ended. They need to be told that taxpayers do not want to see $100 billion borrowed every year to fight a war that is unaffordable, unwinnable, and unnecessary.

Please join us in writing the president and other elected officials by clicking here.

They need to hear from you so they know that if this war continues, in 2012 their jobs will be on the line. The Democrats should have learned that ignoring their voting base means electoral disaster. Most Americans oppose the Afghan War. Seventy-five percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Independents want a timetable for withdrawal, not a four-year war extension.

Thank you for taking action on this request. Your voice is important. If you speak out, it makes a difference.

P.S. Join the largest veteran-led civil resistance to the wars in recent history on December 16th in Washington, DC. See http://votersforpeace.us/press/index.php?itemid=4654 for more information.

THE LETTER
Recent discussions about extending the war in Afghanistan another four years are unacceptable.

Four years more for what is already America’s longest war makes no sense. Four years is as long as the Civil War, longer than World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

Isn’t it obvious by now that the Afghanistan War is not winnable and that a political solution must be found?

We cannot afford this war which currently costs the United States $8 billion in borrowed dollars every month, more than $400 billion over four years.

And, it is not just the cost of dollars. US military forces in Afghanistan suffered 140 combat casualties during the week ending November 16.

The war is not preventing al-Qaeda attacks, since they have virtually left the country. Indeed, the war is creating new enemies for the United States, undermining our national security. Is the US merely fighting for its reputation as the world’s top warrior nation?

Most Americans oppose this war and want a rapid exit strategy. Didn’t you learn in the midterm elections that ignoring the voters means replacing elected officials?

The Afghanistan War is unaffordable, unwinnable, and unnecessary. It is time to end the war.

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